Conference Realignment: High School

Born & raised here in Wellston, Ohio I have grown up in this football culture. And I love it. Truly do. That’s why I have a passion to try and cover the local area as seen by my “pitch” or “idea” for WSAZ. But this blog post will be to talk about preserving one of the most historic conferences in all of Ohio high school athletics.

The Southeastern Ohio Athletic League (SEOAL) was founded in 1925 with eight members: Athens, Gallia Academy, Ironton, Jackson, Logan, Nelsonville, Portsmouth and Wellston. Naturally, over the years teams came and left. I only heard tales of Wellston playing in the SEOAL from my father as they were in the Tri-Valley Conference by the time I was old enough to remember anything and I always loved the thought of Wellston competing against these schools in a league setting. That’s not to downplay the TVC but Jackson are our rivals and Ironton and Portsmouth are two of the most important and historical schools in our area.

Over the past couple of years there has been increasing talk that the SEOAL is on the brink of folding and going away forever. Ironton and Portsmouth returned to the SEOAL in 2006 along with Chillicothe and Zanesville to bolster the league and give them two divisions. I was not a strong supporter of Zanesville being included because of where they are geographically located. Athens left for the TVC after the 2007 season, Zanesville left after the 2008 season and Ironton returned to independent status after the 2009 season leaving the league with six schools.

The talk recently has been for Logan, Chillicothe and Warren to leave for other leagues. While sad to lose a founding school in Logan I believe that the powers to be should look at stabilizing the league long-term with new additions and maintaining the history of the league. So for the purpose of this re-alignment lets assume that Logan and Warren accept invitations for another league putting the pressure on the SEOAL to determine their future… and this is my plan:

First and foremost I believe all leagues should have no more than eight members. That gives you seven weeks of league play and three open dates to schedule other schools. I believe that’s the optimal set-up, especially for our region. The current schools are:
Chillicothe, Gallia Academy, Jackson and Portsmouth.

I have heard that Portsmouth has tried previously to get in to the SOC but the other local schools in Scioto County have blocked them which was one reason for them to re-join the SEOAL after 78 years out of the league. If that’s the case then I am happy to have them remain in the league. This leaves four open spots for expansion. Now who should be invited?

I am sorry to say TVC but you are about to be raided. I would invite Athens, Nelsonville-York, Vinton County and Wellston. Why?

By inviting these four you are adding history, solid athletic teams and a sense of balance in travel. Besides Portsmouth, all teams are within 40 minutes (by my calculations) of one another. All but Vinton County are founding members as well. It also keeps scheduling similar to what it is now.

What about competitive balance? Jackson would immediately be seen as the power, as they are now, but they would get stiff challenges from consistent programs like Nelsonville-York and Athens. Also, outside of Nelsonville-York, all schools would fall within DIII and DIV. One any given year any school can compete with the others as we have seen in the last decade. And, as I mentioned above, you still have three open dates to fill. That would allow Portsmouth to continue its storied rivalry with Ironton and other schools could follow suit with past rivalries or area schools.

The two biggest reasons I believe this is the right way to go (if Logan or Warren defect – and I would add all but Vinton County if only one left) is because it adds history back to the league as well as local schools to cut down on travel. Travel is one of the major factors a school like Zanesville left. With all these schools being familiar with one another it will also foster new rivalries, or rekindle those that were lost, in the new, now stable, Southeastern Ohio Athletic League.